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Just wanted to be the first to wish you, well, at least in your mailbox! :D
Enjoy the article below and feel free to foward on to benefit others on this beautiful day - to be reminded of what is Love :)
Be Love
pat
-- Pat Lu Chief Imagination Officer RAYMA Sdn Bhd http://www.rayma.com.my Event Creator | Knowledge Bank | Mindshare Surgeon | Web Designer M: +6012.210.4898 | T: +603.7804.4666 / 777 / 888 | F: +603.7804.4484 + n o t h i n g ' s i m p o s s i b l e ! +
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CwG Weekly Bulletin #179: Is It Love?
My dear friends…
We are in the hours leading up to Valentine’s Day, and during this time of year the thoughts of many turn to love. Romantic love. You know… the kind that so many people are so hung up on. I observe that during most of my life, I have had no idea what love is. Many other people, I think, fall into the same category. I like to think that I have learned a little bit about all this from my Conversations with God experience, but I would in no way lay claim to any kind of elevated awareness about love.
Here’s what I know. Many people confuse “love” with “need.” Many people think that they need something from someone other than themselves in order to be fully happy. We’re talking about happiness on a personal level now, not happiness in a career or happiness with our trinkets and possessions.
Personal happiness seems to only be full and rich when we have someone to share it with…but the danger is that to many it feels as if this means someone to “get happiness from.” I think that what I’ve learned is that if we feel that someone else—that magical “other”—is going to bring us happiness, we have misunderstood what love really is.
Yet, as I said, we would not be alone in this misunderstanding. Tons of people believe themselves to have needs, and they see life as a quest for “need fulfillment.” Indeed, they see LOVE as “need fulfillment.”
“You fill my needs and I’ll fill yours.”
For many, this is what it feels that love is all about. We look for someone who can fill our needs. We call this “compatibility.” And once we find someone who seems to have all the equipment to fill our needs, we run around trying to fill theirs.
It drives us crazy when we meet a totally self-fulfilled person who apparently HAS no needs…because we can’t do anything FOR them. How are we going to earn their love if we can’t do anything FOR them?
Fortunately, there aren’t very many self-fulfilled people around, so we don’t have to worry. Most others who come into our life have needs of their own, so if we want to get really close to them…even intimate…we subtly work out a “deal.”
Like two nations with stuff each of them needs, we enter into a Trade Agreement. “You give me this and I’ll give you that.” Then, on Valentine’s Day, we run around trying to find the perfect greeting card…but we can’t find one that expresses our true feeling…
My Dearest, Darling Trader…
I trade you very much.
I will always trade you.
I will trade you until the end of time.
I promise to never be a traitor
And always be a trade.
We can tell that we have entered into a Trade Deal when, if the other person stops providing us with what we think we need to be happy, we start feeling short-changed. And, if this goes on, we want “out” of the arrangement.
This, of course, is not True Love.
True Love does not say “I love you IF…” True love says “I love you BECAUSE…”
And what is the “because…”?
The “because” is….”because you’re alive. Because you’re YOU.”
This is how God loves us. No conditions. No “if’s”. Oh, and by the way, no “trades.” God doesn’t give us all good things only if we give God what we imagine that God “wants.” God gives us good things every day of our life, regardless of how we treat God…or anyone else.
You see, God has not created a Reward & Punishment kind of universe…even though most people think that God has. God has EVERYTHING, so there is NOTHING that God wants. This allows God to love us without placing requirements on us to love God in return, through some specific demonstration, behavior, or ritual.
Ah, would that we could all love like God!
Well…life gives us a chance to practice that. And that, I have found, is where the real joy is. I’m learning that Love is not about what I get from another, but about what I give.
Old stuff, I know. Ancient truth, heard from our Moms a hundred times. But right now, as we move toward Valentine’s Day, it’s a nice time to remember that.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. And be happy in love.
neale donald walsch
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Other topics in this weeks bulletin:
- Our Life Experience is Answered Prayer
- “Unconditional Love…what is it?” – Rose Wolfenbarger
- The New Spirituality and the News
To read the entire bulletin, visit http://www.cwg.org/bulletins/Bulletin_179.html
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All welcome. Free admittance. Just walk-in:
Forum: GOLDEN RULES FOR UNITY IN DIVERSITY
Organized by Malaysian Interfaith Network
http://www.malaysianinterfaithnetwork.net/
Date & Time: Saturday 18 Feb 2006; 11.00am- 1.00pm, followed by lunch
Venue: The Pure Life Society, 6th Mile, Jalan Puchong, 58200 Kuala Lumpur
More details, call 03-7782 3803 or Chua CK: (017) 878 2988
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An 8-Session Course, every Saturday from 18 Feb to 8 April 2006, 3.30pm-6.00pm.
UNDERSTANDING THE RELIGIONS IN MALAYSIA
Organized by Fostering Inter-Religious Encounters (FIRE), St Francis Xavier Church,
jointly with Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society and Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia
Full details and registration form:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InHarmony/message/1
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